Popularity of the name Margaret, 1880–2025

Margaret was at its most popular in 1916, when 24,953 girls were given the name: about 1 in 42 girls born in the U.S. that year, ranking #4. In 2025, 2,436 girls were named Margaret, ranking #112. In all, Social Security counts 1,264,774 girls named Margaret since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 3,745 boys named Margaret.

Peak year

1916

Rank in 1916

#4

Babies in 1916

24,953

Rank in 2025

#112

Total since 1880

1,264,774

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name climbed from #155 in 2015 to #112 in 2025: 2,110 girls got it in 2015, and 2,436 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1890s, when 37,937 girls were named Margaret, #3 for the decade. It ranked #5 in the 1880s and #126 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 1,578 in 1880 (#6), 5,304 in 1900 (#4), 27,994 in 1920 (#4), 15,063 in 1940 (#11), 11,362 in 1960 (#36), 2,859 in 1980 (#105), 3,122 in 2000 (#110) and 2,196 in 2020 (#126).

Highs and lows

The most girls given the name in a single year was 28,468, in 1921. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more girls for 1921 than for 1916, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank in any year was #3, first reached in 1891.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 girls named Margaret, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.